Giants or Niners? Who deserves kitchen counter space? Team Morning reserves the right to claim both ($39.95, www.fanatics.com) as the calendar decrees.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Giants or Niners? Who deserves kitchen counter space? Team Morning...

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Add some cheery color to a brown bagger's break with cutlery ($18, www.fredflare.com) that may be useful for tunneling out of the cube farm when more than the flatware feels childish.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Add some cheery color to a brown bagger's break with cutlery ($18,...

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Ahhh, the great outdoors. Hiking, camping and a cute little espresso maker ($49, www.restorationhardware.com) for a double shot to wash down that high-energy almond butter sucked from a tube. The red tin cup is included because this entire kit is made in Italy where style counts for points, as does coffee.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Ahhh, the great outdoors. Hiking, camping and a cute little...

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You know what they say about a long key? Little castle. And padlocks, what's said about them we won't repeat. But these silicon keychains ($12 to $14, www.areawear.com) are easy to find in a properly stuffed stocking. You may even want to slip a key on the ring. To make it official, if not legal.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

You know what they say about a long key? Little castle. And...

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Serve the math geek, or pizza freak on your list a slice of genius. The Pi Cutter ($18.95, www.exploratorium.edu) with two stainless steel rotary blades is as practical as it is punny.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Serve the math geek, or pizza freak on your list a slice of genius....

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Fear no longer the layered drink, unmentionable scourge of the cocktail revival. Affixed to the edge of a Tre double old fashioned designed by Karim Rashid for Orrefors, ($60 the pair, www.bloomingdales.com) the Vacu Vin layering tool slows liquids as they're poured to create layers based on the density of each ingredient. Science! It's more fun than chem lab – will the DeKuyper Curacao Orange bubble up through the Galliano L'autentico ($11.99 and $34.99, www.bevmo.com)– and Alessi's MySqueeze ($70, www.alessi.com) let's you work both ends of the lemon toward the middle, which is totally like high school, or at least the gossip. The Tripod Trivet ($53, www.alessi.com) looks more like fashion-forward jewelry than tableware, and if you experiment with lots of layering, you may decide it is bodyware.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Fear no longer the layered drink, unmentionable scourge of the...

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Word to the wise holiday traveler: Always carry a soft Saldarini wool wrap ($125, www.gumps.com) trimmed in shimmering silky gauze. It steps up to pinch hit as a pillow or a blankie when it is off duty as an accessory. Everything in your kit must do double duty because packing is such a trial, isn't it? A collection of scents for ladies by Penhaligon ($50, www.gumps.com) used one by one, makes slipping a perfume into a 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag just so much less taxing. Decant an ounce or two of Sue Uemura's Essence Absolue into a wee plastic jar for travel. With camellia oil, it will nourish hair long after winter jaunts and parties. ($45 for 5 ounces, www.shueuemuraartofhair-usa.com) Tuck Jouer's sheer lip gloss in Malibu ($20, www.jouercosmetics.com) into your travel clutch for a reviving pop of pink after a red-eye. And even if you arrived late, flash a brigh smile and dazzle'm with Michele's CSX-36 watch,which features a mother of pearl dial, diamond markers and a glittering white crystal band ($2,395, www.watchstation.com). Think of it as wrist camouflage for the slopes.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Word to the wise holiday traveler: Always carry a soft Saldarini...

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Fuego's Element portable grill ($200, www.wingtip.com) works with both 16.4 or a 14.1 LP gas canisters and has a cast iron grate for the perfect veggie kebab or steak. Time either one or both with a limited edition Super Meccanico watch ($1,295, www.watchstation.com).The case is stainless steel with a transparent, mineral glass caseback andthe strap is black rubber. Don't check it while waiting for the N-Judah. Instead, show you're a public transit loyalist with a money clip ($48, www.gumps.com) and cufflinks ($160, www.wingtip.com) made from S.F. Muni tokens.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Fuego's Element portable grill ($200, www.wingtip.com) works with...

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Claim your proper place in the universewith a little chunk of chocolate, which is, botanically speaking, theobroma cacaoor “food of the gods.” Carry a bar in a chocolate-scented bag shaped like one ($40,www.pylones-usa.com) and look delectable in after dipping into Lorac'sEye Candy limited edition collection of Sweet Temptations including colors for cheeks, eyes and lips ($59, www.loraccosmetics.com). To make note of the compliments you will receive ($8.95, www.chroniclebooks.com) while noshing on delicately decadent Piccoletti Pleasures and dark-chocolate-mouse-filled truffles with pink Himalayan salt from Truffili di Pellegrini(six pieces per sleeve, $10.99 to $12.99, www.andronicos.com) To keep all the goodies cool, we serve them on a French kitchen marble slab ($49.95, www.crateandbarrel.com).

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Claim your proper place in the universewith a little chunk of...

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Where there is The World Atlas of Beer ($30, www.sterlingpublishing.com), there must be beer. It looks good and tastes great in Luigi Bormioli Social Ave EssentiALE (get it?) 17.5 ounce glasses of lightweight borosilicate glass ($40 for four, www.everythingkitchens.com). Each is shaped to bring out the best in an I.P.A, a Porter, a seasonal or a classic brew. Neenerneenerneener, wine snobs! Not for you the beer food grilled on a resolutely low-tech stainless steel brustolina ($28, www.toastercentral.com). It works well for toasting polenta slices and is even better for bruschetta. Or opt for nibbles served from horn bowls with matching spoons (from $25, www.jaysonhome.com) even though they are something those hoity-toity winesters might like.

A stocking stuffer for the over-21 set, the black Knight and Queen are well-equipped to defend the wine against Czechs, mates and all others wielding flexi-straws. ($19.50, www.kikkerland.com)

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

A stocking stuffer for the over-21 set, the black Knight and Queen...

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Who knows what happened here? He's left behind a snazzy Peter Millar jacket ($145, Wingtip, 550 Montgomery St., (415)765-0993, www.wingtip.com) and a golf glove with built-in sensors that constantly read the pressure of his grip. ($89, www.sensoglove.com) so it can be corrected at every point of the swing. She's dropped a boho bag ($505, www.shopmulholland.com) and bolted. Do four, count'm four, trick balls - The Phantom, the Jetstreamer, the Exploder and the Unputtaball ($12.95, www.restorationhardware.com) - offer clues? Head to the 19th hole for answers.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Who knows what happened here? He's left behind a snazzy Peter...

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To enhance cubicle life, stash building block notebooks ($18 and $20, www.pylones-usa.com) for taking notes by hand, on paper after a power failure or random act of a vengeful life form. Pencil, pen or quill not included. To combat boredom, break out Geek Battle ($19.95, www.chroniclebooks.com) or Space Invader playing cards ($10, www.kikkerland). While the grassy charging station ($32, www.kikkerland.com) and the lightening bolt power strip ($20, www.fredflare.com)with its sparky cousin, a 4-port USB hub ($15, www.kikkerland.com) add a certain je ne sais quoi to workspace décor, they lack the functionality of the two PowerBar 4200s ($69.95, www.fatcatgear.com)which can charge your smartphone in an emergency. When you're stuck on musical hold, time yourself on the Rubik's Cube 5 x 5 ($32.95, www.exploratorium.edu). You may finish before being offered excellent customer service.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

To enhance cubicle life, stash building block notebooks ($18 and...

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Confound, confuse and delight the Apple fan on your list by eschewing screens and apps for “Apple Design,” by Friedrich von Borries, a retrospective of the tech company's industrial designs, which always arrive with a whiff of the future. ($60, www.museumstore.sfmoma.org).

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Confound, confuse and delight the Apple fan on your list by...

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The label's girly, and it is a rose but on a cold night when it will take more than a crackling fire or a space heater thrumming on high to ward off the damp, open a bottle of Birichino Vin Gris 2011 for a blast of a hot, dry Sierra foothill summer ($13.99, www.birichino.com). The wine will stay perfectly chilled thanks to the barely perceptible BPA-free resusable icicle, or corksicle ($25, www.sfmoma.org) inside the bottle – and you were wondering why a cork stopped a screw-top bottle. Ha! Mystery explained.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

The label's girly, and it is a rose but on a cold night when it...

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Game on! Foodies, wine nerds and others epicurean – Home picklers, amateur butchers, cakewreck.com fans, we know who you are! – can now compete between courses at holiday feasts for bragging rights with “Wine Wars,” “Foodie Fight Rematch” and “Winerd.” ($22.95 to $35, www.chroniclebooks.com). Everyone else can hang out in the kitchen and gossip.

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

Game on! Foodies, wine nerds and others epicurean – Home...

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For stuffing stockings and the swapping that comes later, may we suggest, from the upper left: Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes offer a fun interpretation of how the epic poem of Hindu literature, the Mahabharata,was written in “Ganesha's Sweet Tooth,” ($16.99, www.chroniclebooks.com). To celebrate this contribution to world literature, three horns ($5, $7 and $10, www.kikkerland.com). Parents, once alerted, may want to ship out, one per tugboat with one for the dog($13.95 each, www.exploratorium.edu). For anybody who needs a mayhem break, theKaleido Gears ($24.95 per kit, www.exploratorium.edu) may work as calming meditation tools, unless said body needs to borrow the sushi stroller cards ($9.99, www.chroniclebooks.com) while the baby deals for a high-stakes game of Fish with glow-in-the-dark cards ($11, www.kikkerland.com). To encourage musical ambitions, a maraca and a tambourine ($12 and $20, www.pylones-usa.com) and to discourage them, a shark ($10, www.pylons-usa.com). It's ready to hold pencils, despite being wrapped in scented gummy bear earbuds($14, www.fredflare.com). Keeping all the players' bottoms softer than soft, a fluffy combed Egyptian cotton magnificently multi-colored 27 x 47 inch rug ($308, www.scheuerlinens.com)

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

For stuffing stockings and the swapping that comes later, may we...

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For young connoisseurs of games and crafts, the holidays present many opportunities to watch adults blow out big time with fun and project. Two neatly packaged options should satisfy the small and the tall. Spot It! San Francisco, a limited edition card game ($14, www.sfmoma.org) develops visual perception skills using 55 cards each featuring eight symbols. Suitable for kids over 7 and adults, who may be the real audience for the Antarctic craft kit($19.95, www.kiwicrate.com. To keep everybody happy, the sibling add-on packs in extra materials for $7.95.). One of many options – there's a kit for making holiday gifts, for example - it contains everything needed to engage the preschool set with penguins that bowl with a wiffle ball. Special aside for indulgent grandparents and others: There are kit-a-month options available ($19.95 per month, $220 for 13 months).

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

For young connoisseurs of games and crafts, the holidays present...

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A sturdy sprig of crafty woolen mistletoe ($28.00, www.jaysonhome.com) guarantees ease of use in doorway after doorway even after a blissful kiss warms the holiday spirit, launches a thousand ships and rocks at least two worlds.

Still shopping for the holidays? Or are you like us, and just now making a list? Keep calm and read on. We've found last-minute treats and delights for the hardest to please, probably even something you should get for yourself. (Remember: Love the giver!) No need to panic, just make some picks, unfurl the wrapping paper, and let the fun begin.